Junior Rowers News Section 2007/2008 Putney High School for Girls - 31st March to 6th April 2008 Putney High School For Girls came down to Sussex for a few days to enjoy the water at our reservoir. However, it wasn't just the Putney girls that benefitted from the sessions, ARC members did too as their experience helped us with our racing starts. We had been told that we would be doing racing starts with the girls and we were all very excited, especially for some of us, as it was our first time. I was very lucky that I managed to go out in a quad with two very experienced rowers. They helped us a lot and the difference after the session was dramatically better. When we did some races when we were all confident with the starts, the boat felt as though it was gliding underneath us at 100mph! We all worked very hard and the session was very rewarding for both rowing clubs, I am sure. News item submitted by Katherine Farmer. Emanuel School - 26th March 2008 On Wednesday 26th March, approx 11 girls from Emanuel School came down to share the reservoir, rowing tips and some games with us. It was great fun and we all had a brilliant time. I was the first to arrive at the reservoir and I was very anxious about meeting 11 other girls who I had never met before. However, once they had arrived, their friendliness reassured me that, although I was the only ARC girl there, I would fit into their lesson without any problems and also that we had all rowed for roughly the same time. I found myself in a double with a girl called Claudia. We got on well and we managed to row well together. We both rowed up to the top, awaiting further instructions from their coach. We raced many times against a single and two other quads. One quad didn't have a cox so their steering was a bit haywire, but we all managed very well! The girls certainly enjoyed rowing on the reservoir and found it quite a welcome change from the Thames. One girl said "I'm glad that you don't have to worry about being fined here if you row in the wrong place!" and all the other girls laughed. The session was drawing to a close and after some very close races, their coach made us push ourselves just that little further and race to a game she had set up in the middle of the reservoir. The aim of the game was to row up and grab hold of a rubber duck and one ball, which were floating on the water, for each person in the boat. The first boat to do so without capsizing would win and I am very pleased to say that Claudia and I actually won and it brought the session to a very nice close. I would like to thank everyone involved for providing an excellent day. News item submitted by Katherine Farmer. Medway Fours Head of the River - 24th February 2008 22 competitors from the Club went to Maidstone recently for the Medway Fours Head of the River race over a very twisty upstream course of 2,500 metres. The fastest of our crews were the Junior 18 girls of Jess Palmer and Chloe Carter who were 2nd in their age group 16 secs behind the age group winners. They sculled a very neat and controlled race being chased all the way by a very powerful girls crew from Lea RC but just managed to keep in front at the finish. However the medal winners this time were the Junior 16 girls quad scull which was the fastest girls quad on the day just 13 secs in front of a Burgess Hill School for Girls quad twelve months younger. Other good performances came from the double scull of Sam Cook & Ciaran Egan also second in their age group and Tom Henton third in a Junior 15 single scull. Nicole Carter and Anji Ramanan also J 15s were the only girls double sculls in their age group but nevertheless they rowed consistently well to complete the course in a very competitive time. It was a good opportunity to take some of our young people for their first event and they found the distance quite challenging as well as negotiating the bends in the river. They all did well to complete the course in reasonable times and without mishap. Hampton Head of the River - 1st December 2007 The Club and Burgess Hill School for Girls took 11 young people to compete in the Hampton Schools and Juniors Small Boats Head over 3300metres on the River Thames. This is always a very competitive event with an entry of over 600 crews, including most of the main rowing schools and Clubs from as far away as Monmouth and Durham. The first ARC crew to row was the quad scull of Charlotte Frost, Nicole Carter, Katherine Farmer, Anji Ramanan & Anita Ramanan (cox) in the women’s J15 age group. This was a very big class with many school and club crews that are on the water 3 or 4 times per week minimum. However our girls acquitted themselves very well, rowing tidily and persistently over a course three times the length of Ardingly Reservoir and finishing 20th in the class in a time well comparable with the rest of the group. The boys were represented by Tim Marriott and Austyn Hall in the J17 doubles and they also turned in one of their best performances although they admitted afterwards if they were to get fitter they could go even faster. Tom Henton competed in the J15 singles and did well to finish 22nd in a large class with several Eton boys behind him. In the afternoon it was the turn of the BHSG women’s J15 quad scull of Sarah Lucas, Florence Moon, Katherine Farmer, Charlotte Frost and Flick Coghlan (cox). This was their first competition together and although Latymer passed them near the start they kept going exceptionally well with a high stroke rate to finish 19th and 2 seconds faster than the ARC crew. Nicole Carter and Anji Ramanan competed in the Women’s J15 doubles and as always sculled neatly and powerfully to finish 18th. Some of these crews also competed at Henley two weeks earlier and their performances were a great improvement and a very encouraging sign for the coming months. QUICK REPORT LINKS Putney School 31 Mar-6 Apl 08 Emanuel School 26 Mar 08 Medway Fours Head 24 Feb 08 Hampton Head 01 Dec 07